The Hunger

Description

The Hunger is the official debut album by the American pop-rock band Seven Day Jesus, released on 5 Minute Walk Records in 1996, distributed by Diamante Distribution. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Luis Garcia and Masaki (Masaki Liu of Dime Store Prophets fame) at One Way Studios in Concord, California. All songs written by the band.

Seven Day Jesus features Brian McSweeney on guitar and lead vocals, Chris Beaty on guitar, Wes Simpkins on bass and vocals, and Matt Sumpter on drums.

This hits with passion, first and foremost. Lead singer Brian McSweeney has a very good voice and he pours himself into each song. Like label males Black Eyed Sceva, Seven Day Jesus are not afraid to tackle tough issues in an honest way. «Forgive You» is a standout, as McSweeney struggles to forgive the person that raped a close friend. In the aforementioned «Ashamed», McSweeney addresses the issue of feeling shame for the Gospel from an honest, less than idealistic perspective. While the songs on ‘The Hunger’ often take a grim road, there remains a shaft of hope which shines as a light throughout each song. McSweeney is not the most poetic of lyricists, nor does he come up with clever lines to impress listeners. What he does is tell his feelings, plainly and clearly. Seven Day Jesus then use their collective musical talent to craft songs in such a way that words and music work together to create a sometimes beautiful, sometimes disturbingly powerful picture. The band’s musical influences include Kings X and the Posies (5 Minute Walk Records’ ‘Take Time To Listen Vol 2‘ includes a Seven Day Jesus cover of the Posies’ «I Can Dream All Day»), as well as touches of Seattle grunge. Filtering these different influences, the band have developed their own distinct sound. The band fuses together the grunge sound with a floating guitar, complementing McSweeney’s vocals. [Rod Lobaugh, Cross Rhythms, June 1997]

[Scott Thunder, CCM, June 1996]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-hunger/1690618377)

CD tracklist:

01. A Time To Heal
02. Strength
03. Flybye
04. Forgive Me
05. Forgive You
06. Pavement
07. The Hunger
08. Restrained
09. Delightful You
10. Ashamed

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by 5 Minute Walk Records. Re-issued in 1999 by SaraBellum Recordings, a division of 5 Minute Walk Records, distributed by Sonic Fuel.

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